Information for Authors
Preamble
The University of Toronto Faculty of Law Review is published by students at the Faculty of Law at the University of Toronto with a view to fostering student scholarship and academic citizenship. The Law Review believes that students have valuable contributions to make to legal scholarship, and it is in this spirit that it accepts scholarly contributions from law students, graduate students in law-related disciplines, students-at-law (articling students), clerks at courts in any jurisdiction, and recent law school graduates.
The Law Review considers for publication any piece of student scholarship with a substantial legal focus, and it welcomes submissions in September and January for Issue 1 and Issue 2, respectively. Before submitting your work to the Law Review, please carefully read the following submissions policy statement adopted by the editors:
1. Eligibility
Eligibility to submit to the Law Review is based on two specific criteria: (a) exclusivity of submission, and (b) personal status as an eligible contributing student.
a) Exclusivity of Submission
The Law Review does not accept submissions that are currently being considered by other journals. Authors must agree not to submit papers submitted to the Law Review for consideration to any other journal until the end of the review cycle into which the paper was entered (generally mid-November for Issue 1 and mid-March for Issue 2).
b) Personal Status as an “eligible contributing student”
1. The Law Review only accepts submissions from eligible students. To be deemed an eligible student, you must fall into one of the following categories.
- Students enrolled in a course of study in law that is recognized by the law society (or the equivalent) in the jurisdiction of origin as a pre-requisite to the practice of law as a profession.
In all common law jurisdictions in Canada, such programs are second-entry undergraduate degrees (LL.B. or J.D.), whereas in Quebec and the UK, such courses are direct-entry undergraduate degrees (e.g., LL.L, or LL.B.). In the United States, all such courses are first professional doctorates (J.D.). If you are unsure of your status, contact law.review@utoronto.ca or check with the bar or law society in your jurisdiction.
- Students enrolled in graduate programs (course-based or research oriented) in law (LL.M., B.C.L. (Oxon.), S.J.D., etc.), or graduate-level interdisciplinary programs involving law.
- Students-at-law (articling students).
- Students clerking at a court in any jurisdiction.
- Recent law school graduates (graduated within the last 10 months).
The Law Review retains the discretion to accept papers for consideration that were written by an individual that is not an eligible contributing student (as defined above). The Law Review will generally exercise this discretion to review such submissions if a paper was previously submitted to the Law Review and the author was encouraged to resubmit a revision to a future volume.
2. Eligible submissions (timing)
The Law Review accepts submissions that were written prior to law school if the author is, at the time of submission, an eligible contributing student (as defined above).
Additionally, the Law Review accepts submissions following graduation or completion of articles/clerking as long as the work was written during the period in which the author was eligible to submit to the Law Review, and the submission is sent in close proximity to graduation or the completion of articles/clerking.
The Law Review always accepts for consideration papers submitted during the academic year immediately following the academic year during which the author completed his or her course(s) of study. For example, if an author completed an LL.M. at the end of or during the 2011 – 2012 academic year (September 2011 – August 2012) she may submit to either the September 2012 or January 2013 issue.
2. Manuscript Requirements
Submissions to the Law Review are unconstrained in terms of length or subject matter. However, manuscripts must comply with the following requirements:
a) Title Page
All submissions must include a title page that identifies the following information:
- Title of submission;
- Name(s) of the author(s);
- Contact information for the author(s);
- Law school or interdisciplinary program of study, or articling principal, or court of clerkship.
b) Abstract
All submissions must include an abstract, the length of which must not exceed 5% of the word count of the body of the article.
c) Citations
All submissions must include citations in footnote format. Submissions with endnotes are not accepted for review.
The Law Review adheres to the style guide of the Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation, 7th ed (Toronto: Carswell, 2010) ("McGill Guide"), and footnotes must conform fully to the principles set out in this Guide.
Students at American law schools may submit articles with footnotes set out in compliance with The Bluebook; however, if such a submission is selected for publication, the footnote style must be converted to that of the McGill Guide.
3. How to Submit
When submitting a manuscript to the Law Review, please observe the following guidelines:
a) Electronic Submissions
Manuscripts must be submitted in electronic form, double-spaced, and in a .doc or .docx format.
b) Deadlines
Submission deadlines are mid- to late-September for the fall issue (Issue 1) and mid- to late-January for the winter issue (Issue 2). Following these deadlines, the editors review the submitted papers in review cycles that run approximately ten weeks (ending in early November for the Issue 1 and early March for Issue 2).
Although submissions are accepted at any time during the academic year, the Law Review does not review papers on a rolling basis, nor does it offer expedited review.
c) Notification of Selection Results
Authors submitting in September will generally be notified by mid- to late-November. Authors submitting in January will generally be notified by mid- to late-March. No exceptions will be made to notify an author in advance of the general deadline.
Authors will be notified of the results of the Law Review's selection process via e-mail regardless of whether or not their paper is selected for publication.
4. Selection and Publication Process
The Law Review strives for transparency in its submission evaluation, selection, and publication processes. The following is a brief description of these processes and the related policies adopted by the editors of the Law Review. If you have further questions about the internal practices of the Law Review, please contact law.review@utoronto.ca.
a) Submission Evaluation and Selection Process
It is the policy of the Law Review to evaluate all submissions anonymously, with respect both to the author's identity and the law school of origin. All submissions accepted for consideration by the Law Review are therefore "blinded" by the Editorial Manager before they are distributed to the reviewing editors. This means that all identifying information (names of the author(s), faculties, etc.) are removed from the body and footnotes of the paper. The cover page is replaced with a form cover that includes a reference name for the paper (a combination of letters and numbers) and the title of the submission.
Once blinded, each submission is distributed to one of ten cell groups that make up the first line of review. The cell groups are as follows: constitutional law, corporate law, criminal law, environmental & energy law, intellectual property law, international law, law in context, legal theory, private law, and public law. The cell groups consist of law students at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law. Each cell group thoroughly reviews each submission assigned to it as a group and decides by way of vote whether or not to send a paper to the senior board for further consideration. Papers that are not passed on to the senior board are rejected at this step of the process.
The senior board makes the final decision as to whether or not to publish any given submission. While the cell groups advise the senior board by way of written and oral submissions for each passed-up paper, each member of the senior board individually reviews each paper passed up by the cell groups. In addition, senior readers (generally graduate students who have a research interest in the subject matter of the submission) are secured on an ad hoc basis to advise the board on the substantive merits of submissions. Based on the senior editors' individual determinations and the advice of the cell groups and senior readers, the senior board votes on whether or not to publish a paper.
b) Publication Process for Selected Articles
It is the policy of the Law Review to reserve the right to make editorial changes in manuscripts accepted for publication, including changes required to improve grammar, spelling, and clarity, and to ensure that the submission conforms to the Law Review style. Moreover, the Law Review reserves the right to refuse or withdraw acceptance from, or delay publication of, any manuscript.
Once a submission has been accepted for publication, authors will have an opportunity to make a final set of changes before the production editing process begins. Authors should regard this submission as the final version of the paper. While it will be the responsibility of the author(s) to conduct further research (e.g., to correct citations) as required by the editors of the Law Review during this process, only minor changes in style and content will be accommodated after this point. The authors will then have one further opportunity to review page proofs and to correct typographical errors before publication.